Monday, January 31, 2011

Barr Code: High time for criminal justice reform

High time for criminal justice reform


5:00 am January 31, 2011, by Bob Barr

From Bob Barr's Blog, follow the link above to read the entire post:
http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/

"Georgia faces a billion-dollar budget deficit. In response, the General Assembly must come up with measures to alleviate the burden placed on Peach State taxpayers. One of the areas ripe for reform – at least if we take seriously recent hints by Gov. Nathan Deal and House Speaker David Ralston – is the state’s criminal justice system.

In discussing this problem recently with Walter Jones of the Morris News Service, Ralston stated that Georgians are “spending a huge amount of money locking people up that have drug problems.” He added, “At some point the people of Georgia have a right to ask if that’s an appropriate way to spend their tax dollars.” "

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Criminal justice professor accomplishes publishing feat - Houstonian - A & E

Criminal justice professor accomplishes publishing feat - Houstonian - A & E

From the Houstonian. I met Will several times, a really great guy.

"Willard Oliver, Ph.D., a criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University, has published three books within the past three months.

His most recent book commands attention with its astounding title and cover art, depicting a sniper's gun pointed at the White House. "Killing the President" describes in detail the story of every presidential assassination and those attempted.

"I wrote the stories in a way that is interesting but backed by scholarly evidence," said Oliver..."

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Houston-area prison to shut under budget proposal - Bloomberg

Houston-area prison to shut under budget proposal - Bloomberg: "HOUSTON (AP) — A more than century-old prison in suburban Houston would be closed this year under the proposed budget delivered to Texas lawmakers.

The estimated $31.1 million savings with the shuttering of the Central Unit in Sugar Land would be highly visible but only a tiny part of the some $459 million in cuts proposed for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The biggest hit, almost $224 million out of the proposed $5.4 billion budget for 2012 and 2013, is for cuts in inmate health care and monitoring costs, including a 14 percent reduction in psychiatric and pharmacy care expenses.
The agency had requested an overall $6.5 billion. In the last two-year budget, it received $6.2 billion, a figure that subsequently was trimmed slightly"

I saw about 4 of these closings feed through today. This one from Bloomberg.com Is this a trend?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Help Stop Yemen from Executing a Juvenile Offender | Criminal Justice | Change.org

Help Stop Yemen from Executing a Juvenile Offender | Criminal Justice | Change.org:

"Like the United States, Yemen has treaty obligations to follow when it comes to children and the criminal justice system. And like the U.S. -- and, to be fair, a whole lot of other countries -- it doesn't much seem to care.
Signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – like the U.S. and Yemen – are not supposed to (emphasis on supposed) to execute people who committed crimes as juveniles. Indeed, Article 6 of the treaty states as clear as day that the death penalty “shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age....”"

From Change.org

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Drug experiment - The Boston Globe

Drug experiment - The Boston Globe

From the Boston Globe:

"In the end, there was no way to ignore the problem, and no way for politicians to spin it, either. Young people across Portugal were injecting themselves with heroin. HIV and Hepatitis C infection rates were soaring. And Casal Ventoso, a neighborhood in Lisbon, had become a dark symbol of this small nation’s immense drug problem. Junkies openly injected themselves in the street, dirty syringes piled up in the gutters, alleyways reeked of garbage and human waste, and no one seemed to care..."

Click here to read the full article.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Death penalty deters crime - chicagotribune.com

Death penalty deters crime - chicagotribune.com

From Chicago Tribune.

In response to recent articles about abolishing the death penalty in Illinois I would like to point out some misrepresented facts.

"Twenty persons were exonerated from death row in the last 30-plus years after the criminal justice system found their sentences to be incorrect. In fact, these acquittals are proof that the system works. In our modern-day criminal justice system, no innocent person has been executed. Albeit, in any system, there are going to be situations where witnesses misidentify subjects and subjects are found guilty of heinous crimes. In order to safeguard against this, present-day convictions at this level are immediately and automatically appealed to ensure a fair trial and adequate defense. Only highly trained defense attorneys are allowed to accept these capital cases. Also, DNA testing has evolved to an extremely accurate science and should be automatic in such trials/appeals.."

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

crimspace.com

How have you been enjoying crimspace?

Send me your feedback on how you have been using the site and if you have any suggestions.
If you haven’t had a chance yet to fully engage with your site, here are a few places to start interacting with other members:

Crimspace is a multidimensional online network for the criminology and criminal justice academic communities. The site is open to anyone studying or researching in criminology, criminal justice, juvenile justice, policing, forensics, interpersonal and domestic violence and the many other fields in criminology and criminal justice.

 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Perspective: Scott Sisters Case Proves We Should Assess Our Entire Criminal Justice System | Roland S. Martin Blog

Perspective: Scott Sisters Case Proves We Should Assess Our Entire Criminal Justice System |
Roland S. Martin Blog
:

"Gladys and Jamie Scott are home this weekend with their mother in Florida after spending more than a dozen years in a Mississippi prison. They were sentenced to life sentences as a result of a robbery that netted, according to authorities, $11. That’s right. Life in prison. Eleven dollars. They were only released because Mississippi governor Haley Barbour decided that, as a result of the grave condition of one of them, that it made no sense whatsoever for the State of Mississippi to spend thousands of dollars caring for them when, frankly, they could be free. But he granted a conditional release, requiring one of the sisters to give her kidney to the other, who is gravely ill...."

From Ronald S Martin's Blog: http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/

Friday, January 7, 2011

Prolegomenon on the Status of the Hopey, Changey Thing in American Criminal Justice

This came accross the Social Science Research Network. Looked pretty interesting. You can downolad the entire paper by following the link below.

Prolegomenon on the Status of the Hopey, Changey Thing in American Criminal Justice

Frank O. Bowman III

University of Missouri School of Law

Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2010

Abstract:

This is an introductory essay to Volume 23, Number 2, of the FEDERAL SENTENCING REPORTER, which considers the state of American criminal justice policy in 2010, two years after the "Change" election of 2008.

Part I of the essay paints a statistical picture of trends in federal criminal practice and sentencing over the last half-decade or so, with particular emphasis on sentence severity and the degree of regional and inter-judge sentencing disparity. The statistics suggest that the expectation that the 2005 Booker decision would produce a substantial increase in the exercise of judicial sentencing discretion and a progressive abandonment of the strictures of the Guidelines has begun to prove correct. However, the statistics also reveal that Booker has almost certainly increased geographical disparity in federal sentencing, and the available evidence suggests that inter-judge disparity has increased as well.

Part II of the essay analyzes the responses of the major federal institutional actors – particularly the judiciary, the Department of Justice, the defense bar, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and Congress – to the post-Booker advisory guideline system and considers the prospects for federal sentencing reform generally. It suggests that the mixed results of the Booker advisory guidelines experiment may contribute to its somewhat surprising longevity. The essay also takes a somewhat pessimistic view of the post-election prospects for useful federal sentencing reform.

Parts III and IV of the essay introduce a series of terrific articles in this issue of FSR on state criminal justice developments, as well as an article reflecting on the addition of Justice Sotomayor, a former trial judge, to the Supreme Court.

Contact Information
Frank O. Bowman III (Contact Author)
University of Missouri School of Law ( email )
Missouri Avenue & Conley Avenue
Columbia, MO 65211
United States
573-882-2749 573-882-2749 (Phone)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

FBI crime lab opens in Orange - latimes.com

Some California news:

FBI crime lab opens in Orange - latimes.com: "A regional FBI crime lab where investigators can analyze evidence from computers, cellphones, cameras and other digital media opened Wednesday in Orange.

The $7-million lab is the third of its kind in California and the 15th in the nation and is designed to tackle the growing use of computers and the Internet to commit and conceal crimes, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said...."

Click the article above, then tell us what you think. Do you think this will help with the backlog of cases in LA?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Half of U.S. teens report abuse, crime - UPI.com

Half of U.S. teens report abuse, crime - UPI.com:

"DURHAM, N.H., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- More than 45 percent of U.S. youth reported to authorities at least one instance of violence, abuse, crime or bullying in the past year, researchers say.

David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire and colleagues say the findings challenge the conventional wisdom that childhood/adolescent abuse is a hidden problem and much abuse goes undisclosed...."

Click here to read the article.

From UPI.com

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

Forensic Mental Health Association of California

2011 FMHAC Conference Registration is Open

The 36th Annual FMHAC Conference
Mental Health and the Law: An In-Depth Look at the Evidence
March 23-25, 2011
Embassy Suites
1441 Canyon Del Rey, Seaside, CA 93955
831-393-1115

Click here to see the schedule and register!

About FMHAC